This sign and others like it along the road to Forest Lawn and the city-owned Greenwich City have angered some visitors to the cemeteries. City officials reviewed property records and say the road and right-of-way are city owned, not privately owned as the city initially thought.

Advertising posted along a road that winds around the historic Bonaventure Cemetery to Greenwich Cemetery will have to be removed, Savannah officials say.

After weeks of fielding calls of protest about the ads, city officials reviewed property records and, last week, did a new survey of the road that connects the two city-owned, historically significant properties.

That review has determined the city, not the privately-owned Forest Lawn Cemetery, owns the road and the right-of-way where the signs are posted, Bret Bell, the city's director of public information, said Monday.

"Our records indicate the signs are on city property, and we are in the process of contacting the cemetery owner," Bell said.

He said the city would expect the signs to be removed while any dispute to city ownership was under way.

Kyle Nikola, president of Bonaventure Funeral Home, said Monday the ad next to the Forest Lawn Cemetery sign might be on public right-of-way and, if so, would be moved.

Not so the other ads.

"I am a thousand percent sure the rest of them are on our property," he said.

"We've always owned the road. We allow the city to use it as public right-of-way so people can get to Greenwich Cemetery."

The funeral home and Forest Lawn, which is on the road between the two city cemeteries, are owned by the same parent company, Savannah Cemetery Group.

The funeral home's ads posted along the road match its newspaper and radio spots, which have slogans such as "Steve was an avid golfer. So we made sure his funeral was up to par."

They have proved upsetting to several visitors, who believe the road shouldn't be lined with advertising.

"He's commercializing death is what he's doing," said Ken Forbes, a Bloomingdale resident who two weeks ago picketed outside the main road at Bonaventure to protest the ads. "You wait, the day is going to come where the caskets and the hearses are going to have advertising on them."

Savannah resident Susan Dixon called Bonaventure Cemetery and Forest Lawn's owners after seeing the signs. She has relatives buried in Greenwich and Bonaventure and owns plots in Greenwich where she and other family members will someday be buried.

"I just think they're in very poor taste," she said. "I told (the owner) there are other ways to advertise."

Dixon said she was excited and appreciative to learn city officials believe they have established ownership and will pursue removing the signs.

Until last week, city officials believed the road connecting the two cemeteries was owned by Forest Lawn and referred all calls there.

Jerry Flemming, the city's director of cemeteries, said his office had received dozens of complaints from people who mistakenly thought the city cemetery was responsible for the signs.

Nikola has talked with a few other upset residents but said they "were totally fine afterward" once he explained the reasoning behind the advertising.

"I'm not trying to upset anyone," Nikola said. "When I explain why, they understand it's a necessary thing to have."

When the Savannah Cemetery Group bought Forest Lawn in 2004, it learned Forest Lawn's perpetual care fund was drastically underfunded, he said. The fund should have a principal of $10 million to ensure ongoing care for the 50-acre cemetery, he said, but Forest Lawn had less than $1 million.

The advertising brings business to the Bonaventure Funeral Home, which in turn can buy new equipment needed for the cemetery operation, Nikola said.

Nikola said he would meet personally with anyone who has objections to explain the reasoning for the signs. He can be contacted at the funeral home at 912-335-8506.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

I was in Savannah a couple of weeks ago visiting the graves of my family members , and could not belive that those signs were even allowed to be put in there. how tacky can you get. I just shook my head and thought OMG. what in the world.

A beautiful place, and the nerve of these people to put up these tacky signs. Leave Savannah's beauty alone and don't put up these disgusting signs. We have enough blight in this city without trying to destroy it. Savannah, leave our beauty alone and go haunt some other place.

I assume that the people who are complaining about these signs believe in life after death. I personally don't get it. If you believe in the afterlife, then the physical body is nothing but worm food. We live on in spirit, and are not still in the body that we spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to take care of, treat with respect, manicure the lawns, etc, etc. Our streets are lined with trash, tasteless billboards, obscene ads, overgrown yards, broken down cars, etc. etc. but no one gets bent out of shape about these. But we dare let the grass grow, or allow even one sign where our dead bodies are, and people flip a cork. We treat people after they are gone, sometimes better, then we ever did in the here and now. I personally don't mind the signs. I find nothing offensive about advertising for a service, that people are just dying to get into.

TandT, should we not do everything in our power to treat everyone, living or dead with respect. I guess if it was your mother or any relative lying in proximity of these tasteless signs or even in a garbage laden cemetery you would be ok with it because they're just "worm food", as you put it?

To answer your question, Yes, I do treat people that are alive with respect, at all times. I don't treat dead people with respect, because................wait..........here it comes.............THEY ARE DEAD. I believe that a person is what they are by their character and soul, on the inside, that being said, a body is just a shell for the real person. When the person, or in this case, their body or vessel dies, the spirit lives on and the body just goes back to the earth where it came from. Ashes to ashes. I spend the maximum amount of time with my loved ones and friends, while they are alive, and it is an absolute shame that we have reduced ourselves, to going to graveyards, for hours on end, and spending thousands of dollars on someone that isn't even there, when we have relatives, friends and loved ones that would benefit from the money and time we spent on dead relatives, on them more. I'm not leaving my kid's a thing when I die, because I am going to make sure we spend it all, and enjoy life together. And I also will haunt them until the day they die if they waste their time and money on me after I'm dead, instead of where their time and money need to be, with their living family. Here endeth the lesson.

Well, what the heck. I am now selling signage on my plot, and it can remain there after I am gone and laid to rest. Perpetual placement is available. C'mon - McDonald's, Budweiser, Celebrex, et al. you buy space everywhere, so please give me a call.

I will admit that I haven't seen these advertisement signs in Bonaventure, but I have seen the the signs posted at the entry to Hillcrest. What's the big deal? Bonaventure Funeral Home is quite different from the existing ones. They offer different options that the other's don't.

I've recently been to a visitation service at Bonaventure Funeral Home and was impressed with the facility and staff. If I had to rate them against the many others that I've encountered, they are at the top.

Attorneys constantly bombard us with those disgusting TV ads and magnets on phone books, so why shouldn't every business have they same opportunity to advertise?

Bonaventure Funeral Home just make sure your signs aren't placed on City owned property and you have the permission of the property owner and you"ll be fine. You might also want to check and see it you can replace the current magnet for a local attorney on the telephone books.

I haven't seen their website and won't bother to look. I've been there for a very large visitation. That experience alone left a lasting impression. That's all I need to know. Their website doesn't matter.

I've been to other funeral homes and have had another funeral home handle all of my family members. I left Bonaventure Funeral Home with a good feeling of how they were handling things from the moment you walked in the door to the moment you left. Bonaventure Funeral Home has brought the visitation process into the 21st century.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that Bonaventure Funeral Home's competitors are behind the complaints.

Long ago in the primeval forest, there was a special place for animals who were blind. One day a snake met a rabbit there. The rabbit said: "I like living here, but being blind, I don't know exactly what type of animal I am." The snake then offered to coil itself around the rabbit and help identify its species. After it did so, the snake said: "Well, you have long ears and a fuzzy tail and large back legs. You're a rabbit!" The rabbit thanked the snake and began to hop away when the snake said. "I don't know what kind of animal I am either. How about checking me over." The rabbit obliged, then said to the snake: "Well, you have a forked tongue, beady eyes, you're slimy and you crawl on your belly. You're a...lawyer!"

A man walked into an antique shop. While there he saw a large statue of a hideous-looking, evil-eyed rat. A clerk approached him and said: "I see you're interested in the rat. The statue is only $5.00, however there's a story connected with it, which I'll charge you $50.00 to tell." The man told the clerk to skip the story, but handed him $5.00, took the rat, and left. After he had walked a bit with his statue, he turned around and noticed a large rat following him, but didn't think much of it. He walked another block or so, turned and noticed about 80 rats following him. He walked faster, but next time he turned, there were more than 1000 rats at his heels and more pouring out of the buildings he passed. The man then began running toward the harbor, with now several thousand rats following him. He hurled the statue into the water and watched, amazed, as the thousands of rats also plunged into the water and drowned. Then he raced at top speed back to the shop. The clerk saw him come in and grinned slyly at him. " I suppose you've come back for the story,"said the clerk. "Just hand over that $50, and I'll..." But the man interrupted the clerk. "I don't care about the story," he said. "What I want to know is--do you have a statue of a lawyer?"

Since you asked, I'll answer. Your magnets don't aggravate me. Even getting the sticky stuff off the phone book is no big deal. It comes right off.

"Attorneys constantly bombard us with those disgusting TV ads and magnets on phone books, so why shouldn't every business have the same opportunity to advertise"? I clearly see how my intent was misunderstood. I'll try again. Attorneys constantly bombards us with those disgusting TV ads. There is also an attorney who advertises using magnets on telephone books every year. Why shouldn't every business have the same opportunity to advertise through all avenues available to them?

For the record, if I didn't think the magnets were a good advertisement tool, I wouldn't have suggested the funeral home do it.

A little old lady appeared as a court witness. The prosecutor asked her: "Do you know me?" She said, "yes--you are a chronic drunk and a weasel-like backstabber. You lie, cheat and manipulate people. You think you are a big shot, but you are a no-good, thieving stuffed shirt and a master chiseler." Then he asked her: "Do you know the defense attorney?" She said, " He's lazy, bigoted, has a drinking problem, has had multiple divorces and his secretary has charged him with improper advances."
At that point the judge called both attorneys to his bench for a sidebar. He leaned over and said," If either of you asks her if she knows me, you'll be jailed for contempt!"

***
A judge had heard a case and was almost ready to make a ruling when the defense attorney leaped to his feet. "Your honor, I would like a continuation on the basis of new evidence!'
The judge asked him, "What new evidence?"
The attorney said: " I just found out my client has $500 left."

"I cannot even come up with a word or words to describe the website of this funeral home..."Cookie Cutter"? Can somone explain that one...What, do they have a 14 yr old doing their website and advertising? And then these signs in the cemetery...OMG...Why don't they just use the Road Runner and Betty Boop ! Tasteless!!! NO HONOR !!! NO DIGNITY !!! Someone needs to tell these people they are in the south... We respect Death...Our loved ones and our friends...In my opinion, Bonaventure Funeral Home could be better used as a parking garage...Here's one for you Kyle..."Steve was such a [filtered word]...we sent him out as Glenda the Good Witch..." Perhaps a glass coffin and red slippers... "